Moore hope for an entire community

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It’s all over. After a year of producing, planning, filming, editing, and showcasing, it’s all done. In case you are not sure of what I am talking about, I am talking about my capstone documentary: Moore Hope-The Amelia Moore Story.

There are so many people I have to thank, but before we get to that I must talk about the showcase. It all finally went down after a year. I woke up that day thinking I had no sleep in me. This is partially true because I slept maybe two hours that night. I just lied in my bed awake, thinking about the next day. I got to my destination, Mueller Theater, one hour before show time to make sure everything was set up. It was good to go. People came flooding in, the lights went out, and it was show time. Everything went perfect. People loved the documentary, saying how moved they were by the story. I was moved by everyone telling me. Many tears were shed that day. It was a crazy day. In case you missed it, you can check it out at this link:

So my thank you to everyone. I was the producer, camera operator, editor, and director of the operation but had many people to help me along the day. I have to give a big thank you to Andrew Borts and Andrew Moore, my consultants and supervisor producers. They have helped me so much with the production with their ideas and will to always give me feedback. Thank you to JD Eicher and The Goodnights for providing me music for the film. It made the film having their music. A HUGE thank you to the man who taught me so much on how to edit videos, my Professor Brad Weaver. Finally, thank you to The Treshok family and the Moore family for taking part in this process of doing interviews and helping think of great settings for them.

Small list of thank you to Garrett Conn, Alex Taylor, and Andrew Hribik. Without these three taking the time to proof-watch the documentary, it could not be done.

It’s all done. I have gained so much knowledge about myself and life throughout this process. It has taught me to be thankful for everything that I have in my life and never take a day for granted. Be happy for everything that we have in life, but also take the time to help somebody every day. I hope you also realize this after watching Moore Hope-The Amelia Moore Story.

Editing any video is a long process that takes time. It is all about taking the time to go over the little things in a documentary like title screens, graphics, jump cuts, and a story. All of this is current work that has to be done.

Editing A Moore Hope-The True Story of Amelia Moore is no different. It has been a long road and I am finally starting to see the light. But first, let me take you back to start of my journey of editing. I first had to get all my files on the computer and start to log them. Logging is the process of watching all of your clips and going through each one, titling them in order so you know what they are. For me, that was a long process due to the fact that I have a total of six hours of footage. So needless to say it took a long time. The next step was starting to piece it all together and that took a long time as well. It is all about finding a story and for me that was not too hard because I knew my story very well. The hard part was getting it started. My first attempt of a beginning was fourteen seconds long. That was not going to cut it. So I went back to the drawing board. I then attempted round two and this one was a lot better. I had the attention grabber in the beginning and a good mixture of sound and photos. But one big problem with this one; it was too long. This beginning was close to three minutes. So, back to the drawing board one more time. Finally, on the third attempt, I got my money-making intro at one minute and from there I was good to go.

I transitioned into piecing together my story. I had a little trouble of doing this since I knew my story. The big problem for me though was the time it took. It took me a solid two weeks to put together my rough draft, working about two hours each day. But I got it done.

I am not on my final draft and getting into the nitty-gritty. I am adding my titles and my transition effects to where it seems fit. I am fixing my pictures to make them look HD. I am adding my music, courtesy of JD Eicher and The Goodnights. It is all coming together.

With an estimated run time of 27 minutes, it looks I there is Moore hope for me after all for getting this done by my December 7th showcase.

In my previous blog, I discussed how I have two consultants on board to do my documentary with me. They have met with me and gave more feedback. It is extremely vital in this process.

Last week I met with my second consultant, Dory Moore, and discussed on things were going. She discussed on how she is impressed with how have gotten all my filming done before November. She was very pleased with the fact that I have logged all my video as well. Logging is taking the time to watch your clips and going through each one deciding what will be used and what won’t be and then writing it down. This will save me a ton of time.

Dory was also impressed with how I conducted interviews.

“The interviews were done without scripted questions in front of us,” Dory said. “It made it for a very relaxed environment and seemed like a normal conversation.

Dory’s concern was making sure it lives up to its potential it has. She cited how it could be an impactful documentary as long as the story is told properly. She also cited with timing to not make it too long so I don’t lose the interest from the audience.

I am going to take Dory’s comments and use them to help me make sure I tell my story in the right amount of time. I do not want to go too long and seem like I am rambling through a story. I need to tell the story that is there. I am very fortunate to have two great consultants on my team. They have helped the making of this documentary immensely.

Feedback. It’s a great thing isn’t it? It always helps to get the product you want in the end. This is no different for my capstone documentary; A Moore Hope-The Inspiring True Story of Amelia Moore. I have brought one two consultants and the first one is Andrew Borts. Andrew is a former graduate of Westminster College and now is a full time worker in the Broadcast Department and Audio Visual Services at Westminster. He has also been consultants on pass documentaries.

So I sat down with Andrew the other day and discussed my progress. Andrew sighted a couple of things that he likes. He first pointed out something’s technically that he likes. He sighted how he likes my amount of interviews I have done. He feels the more the better. He also likes the fact that I have finished logging and transferring files onto my edit computer. He said that can take more time to do than the actual editing, so it’s a solid start.

Finally, we discussed my story and that is where it changed not only me, but Andrew. My documentary will not just going to be for a great grade and a competition, but much more.

“You’re documentary has the potential to be very sad,” Borts said. “But with this, it has the potential to be very uplifting and life-changing.”

It got me thinking, is this about a grade? Is this about graduating from Westminster? Well, yes. But I am now realizing that it is more than that. It is about life. It is about impacting someone’s life with the story for the better. This story has the opportunity to make people realize how fortunate we really are in this world compared to others. I am starting to realize this all thanks to Andrew.

With this feedback I feel an added pressure put on me. I feel that I have to do well for not just the good grade, but to impact someone’s life in a positive way. I want to make this great so people can say after watching it, “Wow…I want to have an outlook like Amelia does in life.” Let’s face it, this world would be a lot better off if they do.

It’s that time of year again for the capstone showcase here at Westminster College for the Broadcast Communications Department. The showcase will be on December 7th in Mueller Theatre, which is located in McKelvey Campus Center. The showcase will be at 11:00 A.M. and is free for the public.

Everyone is invited to the showcase, but I plan on inviting my immediate family, my consultants Andrew Borts and Andrew Moore, and the whole entire Moore family. I am dedicating my documentary to the family and Amelia herself. I want to have the family there because they have been my friends and neighbor for my whole life. My goal for the showcase is to impact people in a positive way of realizing how fortunate we are in life and not to take anything for granted. At the showcase, I hope to move the audience through a roller coaster adventure throughout the documentary with positivity, sadness, and sympathy for the family.

The showcase will also feature two other films other than mine. Kendall Hunter will show his documentary titled By Faith, Not Sight. Finally, the showcase will conclude with Corey Benedict’s documentary titled Courage: The John Challis Story. Both are extremely moving. That will be the main theme of our showcase: With God, anything can happen. So come out to the showcase on December 7th for a great show!

Going to Westminster has helped me learn more about myself and what I want to do. Westminster has also taught me to be well-rounded with all the different courses we have to take here. One of my favorite courses I took while being here was Forensic Science.

Now you have to be asking yourself, how does Forensic Science tie into my capstone documentary? Forensic Science taught me a lot of things but one main thing it taught me was how to deal with the public. For our class, we had to travel to New Castle High School on lab days to teach elementary students the basics of forensics. It taught me how to handle tough situations with the students. It taught me how to take control of a situation. It also taught me to come up with lesson plans and execute them.

This ties-in quite nicely with my documentary with having to take control of the situation when it comes to filming. It also taught how to handle tougher situations when doing an interview. It can become quite tricky at times when talking about such a touchy subject.

Dr. Boylan was the professor for course and I could not thank her enough for everything she taught me. She was tough and demanded you to do a lot of work, but I can’t complain about that because it teaches you a great work ethic in life. Finally, she was strict with her deadlines, something that is so important in this industry.

Every project you do in this world has a purpose on how it can impact the community or life. My documentary is no different. I always try to impact someone’s life in a positive way every single day of my life. It makes my day when I can make someone else’s day.

Amelia is the same way and she is a great example. She always tries to make someone’s day anyway she can. She takes the time to talk to someone if they are having a bad day. She makes YouTube videos giving other people who have mitochondrial disease hope. She even writes books and hopes to someday have those published.

Amelia is a great example for my mission in this project. I am hoping to really point out and show people the horrific effects someone has mitochondrial disease has to endure in their life. This is my service learning statement and mission for this documentary. By the time you are done watching it, you will know exactly what this disease is. You will also hopefully take the time to help someone. Finally, you hopefully realize what you have in your life and be happy with it. Just put yourself in Amelia’s shoes and think about life without food.